UBports

A world-wide community of volunteers working on a solution

A Growing International Network of Volunteers

Hundreds of volunteers from all over the world donate their time and skills to create and maintain Ubuntu Touch - a beautiful free and open-source mobile OS for everyone.

"We are building on this amazing collaborative and forward-thinking community for the development and promotion of a free and open source operating system that is developer-friendly, respects the freedom and privacy of individuals, and breaks free from the traditional hardware classification confinements and uses."

Marius Gripsgård, Founder of the UBports community

"IMHO UBports is one of the most vibrant and greatest communities I ever met."

Marcos Costales, uNav & uWriter Creator

Freedom and Open Source

With Ubuntu Touch we offer an alternative to the current most popular operating systems on the market. Everyone should be allowed to use, study, share and improve all software created by the Foundation free of charge. Whenever possible, everything is distributed under free and open source licenses endorsed by the Free Software Foundation, the Open Source Initiative.

Privacy and Security

We believe that the mobile telecommunication landscape has to evolve. Users should be able to trust their phone to guard their personal data from intruders. Other mobile operating systems rely on proprietary technologies, so that the user is unable to check the security and integrity of his system. UBports changes that.

Developer-friendly

Every component of the OS will be publicly documented to allow for volunteer developers to easily get started contributing code to the Foundation’s projects.

You Can Make the Difference

Ubuntu Touch is built by the community for the community. Being part of our group is fun. UBports is built on respect, enthusiasm and diversity. Whatever skill set you have, you can become our next star-player. We need your help and support to make Ubuntu Touch successful.

UBports is a community in which everybody is appreciated and encouraged to contribute. In addition to the need for technical people and their skills, there are many non-technical opportunities for your contribution as well.

Compatibility and Convergence

With mobile hardware becoming more and more powerful, it is UBports’ vision to converge the personal computing world. If a phone can be connected to a monitor, mouse and keyboard, it can become a fully-featured computer. It is our goal to efficiently increase the reach of free and open source software on mobile devices. To achieve this, we want to integrate compatibility with established software written for the GNU/Linux platform as well as Android applications into Ubuntu Touch. Compatibility with these platforms is particularly intriguing as they are already supported by a lot of free and open-source software.

Ubuntu

The African word Ubuntu (pronounced with a long 'oo' as in 'you' for each vowel) which translates to “humanity towards others” and describes a philosophy that revolves around the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity. Ubuntu is one of the largest, if not the largest deployed Linux-based operating systems in the world and brings the spirit of sharing and collaboration to the technology realm.

Our Origins

The UBports project was founded by Marius Gripsgard in 2015 and in its infancy was a place where developers could share ideas and educate each other in hopes of bringing the Ubuntu Touch platform to more and more devices. Originally Ubuntu Touch was designed and developed by Canonical. With fast and smooth developments this gave the project a kick-start. After Canonical announced the end of their support for the operating system, it was picked up by the community. The resonance has been fantastic and the community is growing rapidly.

The UBports Foundation

Today we are organized in the totally non-profit UBports Foundation. We are funded entirely by donations. It is our goal to make Ubuntu Touch available on as many devices as possible and keep Ubuntu Touch alive while preserving all aspects and features the community has grown to love. We intend to reshape Ubuntu Touch and transform it into an Operating System that faithfully serves the needs of its users.

Why the World Needs Our Solution

The current smartphone environment is one where two large corporations control the entire market. For the promise of convenience, users have to sign away their rights and freedoms. Their activities are tracked, their data is being collected and analyzed to more efficiently present ads to them. By binding all their purchased applications and content to a personalized account, the user gets locked in to the ecosystem. If their phone stops working after only two years of usage, people become despondent and buy from the same company again.

The world needs a safe alternative that protects its users' data and gives people the option of *not* having to give up their information to perform even the most basic tasks. Ubuntu Touch not only offers this, but also strives to create a great user-experience that resonates both with users and developers. We also incorporate alternative services for messaging (Telegram, Matrix, Signal), cloud-syncronization (Owncloud/Nextcloud), navigation (OpenStreetMap) and more to come in the future.